Wakeup call
Trip Start
Nov 30, 2007
1
5
34
Trip End
Jan 17, 2008
Dubai,
United Arab Emirates
Monday, December 3, 2007
So what happened yesterday? Well, a lot of it, dear reader, was the flights and the jet lag. It's 11 hours time difference here. The rest was a bit of a headlong plunge into Old Dubai.
The first few hours in country were spent at the airport; I wanted to blog Frankfurt before I really hit Dubai, and I had free, high-speed wireless, so I spent a few hours there. (The first hour was waiting in the massive hall for passport control). I got my real start around 7 when I caught a bus to my hotel.
Wind towers and minarets.
The bus ride (it was outfitted like an intercity bus, with curtains and so on) was my first view of Dubai; it seemed sort of like a hot version of, say, Houston during the boom. Hugh, gleaming skyscrapers in the distance, and every block was an apartment building going up. Quite Western, which is a nice way of reducing my culture shock.
My hotel is right next to the bus depot, although I turned the wrong way and had to walk 20 minutes to find it. It's a budget hotel, but not particularly bad - sort of like a Motel 6 or whatever, just for twice the price. As it would conspire, this is a South Asian neighbourhood, located in Bur Dubai on the south side of Dubai Creek. My hotel caters to the South Asian population; for instance, running three wildly different restaurants; North Indian, South Indian and... Goan. A lot of nearby streets have lots of ads offering housing for "Keralan" men, yes, they're down to the specific state. But it's good, in a way. Means lower prices, for one.
I set out, after checking in and a quick shower, to go to the Sheik Mohammed Center for Cultural Understanding. On my walk there, through the store-lined streets selling mostly electronics, I notice UAE flags everywhere
Abras rock!
. I wonder if the people here are always so patriotic until I get to the Centre, which is closed. UAE National Day. Which explains the flags, as well. Thus begins my first bit of cultural understanding.I toured the area, anyways, a historic neighbourhood called the Battakia district, which looks quite new to my eyes. Regardless, it is filled with labyrinthine passageways and a mosque, even though I was the only person there. From there, I wandered back through the streets of Bur Dubai and took an abra across to Deira, the other traditional neighbourhood. The Dubai Creek separates the two, and abras weave across, through intense traffic. An abra is a small boat holding 20 people or so, and costs 27 cents to ride. This is the best value in Dubai, as it offers wonderful views and it's a boat! (Being raised in Calgary has led me to believe that anything connected with the ocean is somehow magical.)
On the Deira side, I frst swing through the dhow wharves, where traditional wooden dhows (with motors instead of sails) are still used to bring in cargo - there's a customs office, and piles of cargo, including washing machines. In the souks of the old town, most of the cargo, it seems is still being moved by people on dollies or carts. which is good, because the traffic wasn't moving
The Gold Souk. Notice the gold?
. Anyways, I spent a while wandering the souks, which are crowded areas with narrow streeets lined with dozens of storefronts, each a few feet wide. Textiles first, then, after lunch, the famous gold souk. There were hundreds of gold shops, each offering ornate necklaces, rings, pendants and the like, plus of course police. And the first real crowd of Western tourists I'd seen.After the souks in Deira, I took an abra back to the Old Souk of Bur Dubai, and wandered again. By this time, the heat and lack of sleep were catching up with me, so I went to the Carrefour Hypermarket and picked up a couple of snacks (some excellent baklava) and came back to my hotel room around 4 PM. I told myself I'd have a two hour nap, then go for an after-dark wander, but I next woke up at 1 AM. The next thing I remember was the call to prayer.
